Languages and religions  Data, indicatorsLanguages

At work Swiss German is the most widely spoken language (66.0% of employed persons), followed by German (33.4%), French (29.1%), then English (18.2%) and Italian (8.7%).

At home or with relatives, 60.1% of the permanent resident population speak usually Swiss German, 23.4% French, 10.1% German, 8.4% Italian and 4.6% English.

Considering languages usually spoken at work and at home, 42.6% of the permanent resident population have indicated more than one language. English and Portuguese are the two most often foreign languages indicated.

Permanent resident population 15 years or over by main language(s), 1970 to 2013

in %

1970

1980

1990

2000

20131

Total

4'575'416

4'950'821

5'495'018

5'868'572

6'744'794

German

65.3

65.7

64.6

64.2

64.5

French

18.7

18.6

19.3

20

22.6

Italian

11.1

9.3

8

6.8

8.3

Romansh

0.8

0.8

0.6

0.5

0.5

Other languages

4.0

5.5

7.6

8.5

21.5

1) The confidence interval is in each case less than +/-0.2%. Source: 1970-2000: Federal Population Census; 2013: Structural Survey

1970-2000 data have been harmonised with the structural survey. Since 2010 persons interviewed could indicate more than one language instead of just one until then. That does not permit to make a perfect comparison between 1970-2000 and 2013.